ST PAUL, Minn. — Ramsey County prosecutors have charged a 16-year-old boy in a shooting near Allianz Field, as an MLS playoff game was happening at the stadium.
KARE 11 is not identifying the suspect because he is a minor.
Court documents show the teen is charged with two counts of 2nd degree assault with a dangerous weapon. The teen originally claimed to be a bystander injured in the shooting, but investigators said surveillance video from a nearby laundromat showed the teen as one of two people firing shots.
According to a criminal complaint, officers working the Allianz Field detail for the Minnesota United playoff game heard gunshots near the area of University Avenue and Pascal Street around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 20. Officers responded to the scene and discovered two people with gunshot wounds, including the teen now charged. Both were taken to the hospital.
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While en route to the hospital, the complaint states the teen told police he was riding his bike through a parking lot on his way to get food at a nearby fast food restaurant when he heard gunshots nearby. He claimed he felt a gunshot wound to his back, but didn't see or hear anything else.
Police said the other man found at the scene had gunshot wounds to his arm and head, but was uncooperative with officers, only stating he was in a car in the parking lot when the shots rang out.
Officers also found another woman who said her car had been struck by a bullet through a rear passenger door, breaking a window and narrowly missing two children, including an infant in his car seat.
The complaint says officers later received surveillance video from nearby Laundry Mat Place, which showed two shooters at the scene. One suspect began shooting at two people on bikes riding through the parking lot, before taking off from the scene. Police said the second shooter was later identified as the teen now charged; the complaint says the teen got off his bike, went behind a dumpster, pulled a gun from his pocket, and fired multiple shots. That shooter then left the scene on his bicycle, losing a shoe in the process. That shoe was later shown to match the shoes the teen was wearing as he was taken to the hospital.
A gun and several spent casings were recovered from the scene.
The teen suspect was released from the hospital and transferred to juvenile detention.
